What Our Pesky Bee Problem Could Mean

I haven't heard a lot about the much-dreaded Colony Collapse Disorder lately -- that syndrome wherein massive bee die-offs seemed to threaten global food supplies -- which I foolishly chalked up to our having solved the problem. Not so fast -- according to this recent article in the Telegraph, the problem hasn't gone away -- 30 to 30% of bees are still failing to survive each winter, three times the historical average -- and we're only just beginning to make educated guesses about the real cause of it. (Bee experts can't agree about what's killing the bees, or whether the die-offs should even be called "Colony Collapse Disorder.")

The one thing we can agree about is that it's serious -- though not everyone agrees that it would mean the end of the world. A number of staple crops, like corn, wheat and rice, aren't fertilized by bees. But it would most definitely be an economic disaster, since many of the most profitable crops that farmers grow -- nuts, melons, berries, and to some extent citrus fruits, apples, onions, broccoli, cabbage, sprouts, peppers, eggplants, avocados, cucumbers, coconuts and tomatoes, as well as coffee and cocoa -- depend on pollination.

So what happens if the bees don't come back? Some desperate farmers have begun to pollinate crops by hand, as they do in parts of Sichuan, China, where in the 1980s pesticides in pear orchards killed off so many bees that today farmers use feather brushes to do it themselves -- an incredibly laborious process, considering that the bees there once visited as many as 300 million flowers in a single day. But this isn't a great solution, obviously, considering how much food the world needs. Bee die-offs will only worsen global food security, which is already in bad shape in many parts of the world. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, "The number of people without enough food to eat on a regular basis remains stubbornly high, at over 800 million, and is not falling significantly." Even in the good old US of A, one of out six people are considered "food insecure."

Food security has a lot to do with political security, too: "the unrest in Egypt is blamed in part on rising wheat prices," writes the Telegraph, "which has squeezed poor Egyptian households." Many commodities, like wheat and gold, are trading close to all-time highs, driven up by Chinese demand, a weak dollar, a flight to hard assets and severe weather. (Bee die-offs being the catalyst for international political revolutions? Kind of the ultimate butterfly, effect, if you'll pardon the mixed metaphor.) If you ask the guy from the movie Collapse, he might tell you that the end of bees really would be an apocalypse of sorts.

From The Bible to Harry Potter, some of the world's most popular books have been challenged for reasons ranging from violence to occult overtones. In honor of Banned Books Week, which runs from September 24 through September 30, 2017, here's a look at 10 classic book that have stirred up controversy.

1. THE CALL OF THE WILD

Jack London's 1903 Klondike Gold Rush-set adventure was banned in Yugoslavia and Italy for being "too radical" and was burned by the Nazis because of the author's well-known socialist leanings.

2. THE GRAPES OF WRATH

Though John Steinbeck's 1939 novel, about a family of tenant farmers who are forced to leave their Oklahoma for California home because of economic hardships, earned the author both the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, it also drew ire across America become some believed it promoted Communist values. Kern County, California—where much of the book took place—was particular incensed by Steinbeck's portrayal of the area and its working conditions, which they considered slanderous.

3. THE LORAX

Google Play

Whereas some readers look at Dr. Seuss's Lorax and see a fuzzy little character who "speaks for the trees," others saw the 1971 children's book as a danger piece of political commentary, with even the author reportedly referring to it as "propaganda."

4. ULYSSES

James Joyce's 1922 novel Ulysses may be one of the most important and influential works of the early 20th century, but it was also deemed obscene for both its language and sexual content—and not just in a few provincial places. In 1921, a group known as The New York Society for the Suppression of Vice successfully managed to keep the book out of the United States, and United States Post Office regularly burned copies of it. But in 1933, the book's publisher, Random House, took the case—United States v. One Book Called Ulysses—to court and ended up getting the ban overturned.

5. ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

In 1929, Erich Maria Remarque—a German World War I veteran—wrote the novel All Quiet on the Western Front, which gives an accounting of the extreme mental and physical stress the German soldiers faced during their time in the war. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the book's realism didn't sit well with Nazi leaders, who feared the book would deter their propaganda efforts.

6. ANIMAL FARM

The original publication of George Orwell's 1945 allegorical novella was delayed in the U.K. because of its anti-Stalin themes. It was confiscated in Germany by Allied troops, banned in Yugoslavia in 1946, banned in Kenya in 1991, and banned in the United Arab Emirates in 2002.

7. AS I LAY DYING

Though many people consider William Faulkner's 1930 novel As I Lay Dying a classic piece of American literature, the Graves County School District in Mayfield, Kentucky disagreed. In 1986, the school district banned the book because it questioned the existence of God.

8. LOLITA

Sure, it's well known that Vladimir Nabokov's Lolitais about a middle-aged literature professor who is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl who eventually becomes her stepdaughter. It's the kind of storyline that would raise eyebrows today, so imagine what the response was when the book was released in 1955. A number of countries—including France, England, Argentina, New Zealand, and South Africa—banned the book for being obscene. Canada did the same in 1958, though it later lifted the ban on what is now considered a classic piece of literature—unreliable narrator and all.

9. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

Reading J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is practically a rite of passage for teenagers in recent years, but back when it was published in 1951, it wasn't always easy for a kid to get his or her hands on it. According to TIME, "Within two weeks of its 1951 release, J.D. Salinger’s novel rocketed to No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. Ever since, the book—which explores three days in the life of a troubled 16-year-old boy—has been a 'favorite of censors since its publication,' according to the American Library Association."

10. THE GIVER

The newest book on this list, Lois Lowry's 1993 novel The Giver—about a dystopia masquerading as a utopia—was banned in several U.S. states, including California and Kentucky, for addressing issues such as euthanasia.

For many researchers, gathering data is the fun part of their job. But figuring out how to convey those numbers in a clear and visually appealing way is where they lose confidence. The Data Viz Project streamlines this step: With more than 150 types of data visualizations organized by different categories, finding the perfect format for your information is quick and painless.

According to Co.Design, the compendium comes from the Copenhagen-based infographics agency Ferdio and it took four years to develop. It started as a collection of physical graphs and charts posted on the walls of their office before moving online for all employees to use. Now, they’re making the project accessible to the public.

The website includes all the basic visualizations, like the line graph, the pie chart, and the Venn diagram. But it also makes room for the obscure: The chord diagram, the violin plot, and the convex treemap are a few of the more distinctive entries.

At first, the number of options can seem overwhelming, but narrowing them down is simple. If you’re looking for a specific type of visualization, like a chart, diagram, or table, you can select your category from the list labeled "family." From there you can limit your results even further by selecting the type of data you're inputting, the intended function (geographical data, trend over time), and the way you want it to look (bars, pyramids, pictographs).

Each image comes with its own description and examples of how it can be used in the real world. Check out some examples below to expand your own data visualization knowledge.